My understanding, and from what I read, is that in order to anneal cases one needs to do the following:

Heat only the neck of the case evenly to about 320 deg Centigrade(608 F), then quickly cool off. The quick cooling off anneals the brass.

On one of our local websites the following is said: (by someone that can shoot liitle groups at long distances)

Heat the brass to 260 deg Centigrade (500F), then to 420 deg centigrade(788F) for 4-5 sec. From here the brass must be left to cool slowly. Dumping it in water serves no purpose in the annealing other then to prevent the heat spreading to the web or primer pocket.

If not heated to 420 deg centigrade then the brass must be kept at 260 deg centigrade(500F) for 1 hour. Only then will it be annealed.

Changes start to occur in brass grain structure at 480 degrees fahrenheit. To properly anneal brass, the temperature needs to be at 650 degrees F. for several minutes--BUT this will transfer too-much heat to the lower case in that time. So we need more heat for a shorter time. We need to raise the neck temp to about 750 degrees F. only for a few seconds to anneal.

I learned how to anneal from Vern Harrison of Central Virginia tactical. A phone calls and several PMs he got me set up. He really knows his stuff when it comes to precision shooting.

I actually bought the Hornady annealing kit because it has the holders that chuck right into a drill.

I stole this from a post he did a while back.

The method I've used for the last 35 year or more, has been very
effective. Enough that it brought home 4 world records. I was shown
this method and found it to be simple, easy and bottom line is, it
works. All for about $15 worth of parts and equipment.

Things you will need:

1) drill or fast electric screwdriver

2) shellholder and adaptor

3) propane torch and striker

4) tupperwear bowl (size- 1 quart)

5) cold water and ice (fill the bowl full of ice)

6) airconditioner thermometer (dial type)

7) wooden loading block (Sinclair sells these or you can make one just as easy).

Procedure:

1)
tumble brass until clean or clean the necks with #000 steel wool. ( you
must remove all the carbon from the brass, or it will melt into the
brass when you anneal it.

2) place a piece of brass in the shellholder adaptor.

3) strike a flame in the propane torch ( you want about a 1" blue flame)

4) spin the center of the case neck in the tip of the flame for 11 seconds for Lapua brass- 13 seconds for Lake City brass.

5) spin heated brass straight into the ice water, until cool ( 5 to 10 seconds will be fine)

6) shake the water out of the case

7) set the case upside down (case mouth down) in a wooden loading block over night.

tips:
make sure the brass is clean, maintain the water temperature at 45
degrees. If the water temperature goes up, just wait a few minutes for
it to cool down.

Annealing each piece of brass the same and cooling it the same is the real secret to doing this correctly.

Now if I'm competing I will anneal my brass every other time I shoot
it. If I'm just maintaining my practice brass, I anneal every third
firing.

I hope this helps, flea

He says in another post it is extremely important to cool the brass at the same temp. It is important to heat it up in a controlled equal manner from piece to piece and cooling it down the exact same is just as important.

Lifetime warranty and excellent customer service don't mean a thing when your gun fails during a zombie attack.

My understanding, and from what I read, is that in order to anneal cases one needs to do the following:

Heat only the neck of the case evenly to about 320 deg Centigrade(608 F), then quickly cool off. The quick cooling off anneals the brass.

On one of our local websites the following is said: (by someone that can shoot liitle groups at long distances)

Heat the brass to 260 deg Centigrade (500F), then to 420 deg centigrade(788F) for 4-5 sec. From here the brass must be left to cool slowly. Dumping it in water serves no purpose in the annealing other then to prevent the heat spreading to the web or primer pocket.

If not heated to 420 deg centigrade then the brass must be kept at 260 deg centigrade(500F) for 1 hour. Only then will it be annealed.

Anyone care to pitch in??

Sounds wrong to me.

This sounds like that he is Annealing the entire case. There is no way to keep the heat from spreading if it is heated for 1 hour. The neck is all that need to be treated. I like Supertools method much better. 10 - 15 seconds in the flame is what I have done the last few years. I don't remember where the method came from.

Folks ain't got a sense of humor no more. They don't laugh they just get sore.

Need to follow the rules. Just hard to determine which set of rules to followNow the rules have changed again.

I've been told the way to do it is to fill a pan with water with the neck above the water and heat it with a torch then nock it over into the water. Seems like a good deal of trouble to me if done some of the other ways.

"Always do the right thing, just because it is the right thing to do".Bobby Paul DohertyTexas Ranger

any method which heats the neck, then suddenly quenchs the rest of the case will give a line in the brass which will case seperation at that point. This is increased with fl resizing, Oven methods and machine methods risk the primer pocket and web area.

What is the purpose of annealing? To make the case neck tension uniform, out side neck turning is more consistant, more controllable. If the cases have been resized several times the necks will have high spots and valleys that annealling will not remedy.

In either case having a gun/scope combination that would show the difference is the first step.

I love little league baseball-- it keeps the kids out of the house Yogi Bera

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